Regina Coeli

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia. / For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia.

Has risen, as he said, alleluia. / Pray for us to God, alleluia.

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia. / For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

John
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	John 16
23.	And in that day you shall not ask me any thing. Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you.	Et in illo die me non rogabitis quidquam. Amen, amen dico vobis : si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo, dabit vobis.	και εν εκεινη τη ημερα εμε ουκ ερωτησετε ουδεν αμην αμην λεγω υμιν οτι οσα αν αιτησητε τον πατερα εν τω ονοματι μου δωσει υμιν
24.	Hitherto you have not asked any thing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full.	Usque modo non petistis quidquam in nomine meo : petite, et accipietis, ut gaudium vestrum sit plenum.	εως αρτι ουκ ητησατε ουδεν εν τω ονοματι μου αιτειτε και ληψεσθε ινα η χαρα υμων η πεπληρωμενη
25.	These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh, when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will shew you plainly of the Father.	Hæc in proverbiis locutus sum vobis. Venit hora cum jam non in proverbiis loquar vobis, sed palam de Patre annuntiabo vobis :	ταυτα εν παροιμιαις λελαληκα υμιν αλλ ερχεται ωρα οτε ουκετι εν παροιμιαις λαλησω υμιν αλλα παρρησια περι του πατρος αναγγελω υμιν
26.	In that day you shall ask in my name; and I say not to you, that I will ask the Father for you:	in illo die in nomine meo petetis : et non dico vobis quia ego rogabo Patrem de vobis :	εν εκεινη τη ημερα εν τω ονοματι μου αιτησεσθε και ου λεγω υμιν οτι εγω ερωτησω τον πατερα περι υμων
27.	For the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.	ipse enim Pater amat vos, quia vos me amastis, et credidistis, quia ego a Deo exivi.	αυτος γαρ ο πατηρ φιλει υμας οτι υμεις εμε πεφιληκατε και πεπιστευκατε οτι εγω παρα του θεου εξηλθον
28.	I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and I go to the Father.	Exivi a Patre, et veni in mundum : iterum relinquo mundum, et vado ad Patrem.	εξηλθον παρα του πατρος και εληλυθα εις τον κοσμον παλιν αφιημι τον κοσμον και πορευομαι προς τον πατερα

23. And in that day you shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say to you, Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
24. Hitherto have you asked nothing in my name; ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.
25. These things have I spoken to you in proverbs; but the time comes, when I shall no more speak to you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father.
26. At that day you shall ask in my name; and I say not to you, that I will pray the Father for you:
27. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
28. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

CHRYS, Again our Lord shows that it is expedient that He should go: And in that day shall you ask Me nothing.

AUG. The word ask here means not only to seek for, but to ask a question: the Greek word from which it is translated has both meanings.

CHRYS. He says, And in that day, i.e. when I shall have risen again, you shall ask Me nothing, i.e. not say to Me, Show us the Father, and, Where do You go? since you will know this by the teaching of the Holy Ghost; or, you shall ask Me nothing, i.e. not want Me for a Mediator to obtain your requests, as My name will be enough, if you only call upon that: Verily, verily, I say to you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you. Wherein He shows His power; that neither seen, or asked, but named only to the Father, He will do miracles.

Do not think then, He said, that because for the future I shall not be with you, that you are therefore forsaken; for My name will be a still greater protection to you than My presence: Hitherto have you asked nothing in My Name; ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.

THEOPHYL. I or when your prayers shall be fully answered, then will your gladness be greatest.

CHRYS. These words being obscure, He adds, These things have I spoken to you in proverbs, but the time comes when l shall no more speak to you in proverbs; for forty days He talked with them as they were assembled, speaking of the kingdom of God. And now, He says, you are in too great fear to attend to My words, but then, when you see Me risen again, you will be able to proclaim these things openly.

THEOPHYL. He still cheers them with the promise that help will be given them from above in their temptations: At that day you shall ask in My Name. And you will be so in favor with the Father, that you will no longer need my intervention: And I say not to you that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you. But that they might not start back from our Lord, as though they were no longer in need of Him, He adds, Because you have loved Me: as if to say, The Father loves you, because you have loved Me; when therefore you fall from My love, you will straightway fall from the Father's love.

AUG. But does He love us because we love Him; or rather do not we love Him, because He loved us; This is what the Evangelist says, Let us love God, because God first loved us (1 Jn 4:19). The Father then loves us, because we love the Son, it being from the Father and the Son, that we receive the love from the Father and the Son. He loves what He has made; but He would not make in us what He loved, except He loved us in the first place.

HILARY. Perfect faith in the Son, which believes and loves what has come forth from God, and deserves to be heard and loved for its own sake, this faith confessing the Son of God, born from Him, and sent by Him, needs not an intercessor with the Father; wherefore it follows, And have believed that I came forth from God.

His nativity and advent are signified by, I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world. The one is dispensation, the other nature. To have come from the Father, and to have come forth from God, have not the same meaning; because it is one thing to have come forth from God in the relation of Sonship, another thing to have come from the Father into this world to accomplish the mystery of our salvation. Since to come forth from God is to subsist as His Son, what else can He be but God.

CHRYS. As it was consolatory to them to hear of His resurrection, and how He came from God, and went to God, He dwells again and again on these subjects: Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. The one was a proof that their faith in Him was not vain: the other that they would still be under His protection.

AUG. He came forth from the Father, because He is of the Father; He came into the world, because He showed Himself in the body to the world. He left the world by His departure in the body, and went to the Father by the ascension of His humanity, nor yet in respect of the government of His presence, left the world; just as when He went forth from the Father and came into the world, He did so in such wise as not to leave the Father. But our Lord Jesus Christ, we read, was asked questions, and petitioned after His resurrection; for when about to ascend to Heaven He was asked by His disciples when He would restore the kingdom to Israel; when in Heaven He was asked by Stephen, to receive his spirit.

And who would dare to say that as mortal He might be asked, as immortal He might not? I think then that when He says, In that day you shall ask Me nothing, He refers not to the time of His resurrection, but to that time when we shall see Him as He is: which vision is not of this present life, but of the life everlasting, when we shall ask for nothing, ask no questions, because there will remain nothing to be desired, nothing to be learnt.

ALCUIN. This is His meaning then: In the world to come, you shall ask me nothing: but in the mean time while you are traveling on this wearisome road, ask what you want of the Father, and He will give it you: Verily, verily, I say to you, Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you.

AUG. The word whatsoever must not be understood to mean anything, but something which with reference to obtaining the life of blessedness is not nothing. That is not sought in the Savior's name, which is sought to the hindering of our salvation; for by in My name must be understood not the mere sound of the letters or syllables, but that which is rightly and truly signified by that sound. He who holds any notion concerning Christ, which should not be held of the only Son of God, does not ask in His name.

But he who thinks rightly of Him, asks in His name, and receives what he asks, if it be not against his eternal salvation; he receives when it is right he should receive; for some things are only denied at present in order to be granted at a more suitable time. Again, the words, He will give it you, only comprehend those benefits which properly appertain to the persons who ask.

All saints are heard for themselves, but not for all; for it is not will give simply, but will give you; what follows, Hitherto have you asked nothing in My name, may be understood in two ways: either that they had not asked in His name, because they had not known it as it ought to be known; or, you have asked nothing, because with reference to obtaining the thing you ought to ask for, what you have asked for is to be counted nothing.

That therefore they may ask in His name not for what is nothing, but for the fullness of joy, He adds, Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. This full joy is not carnal, but spiritual joy; and it will be full, when it is so great that nothing can be added to it.

AUG. And this is that full joy, than which nothing can be greater, viz. to enjoy God, the Trinity, in the image of Whom we are made.

AUG, Whatsoever then is asked, which appertains to the getting this joy, this must be asked in the name of Christ. For His saints that persevere in asking for it, He will never in His divine mercy disappoint. But whatever is asked beside this is nothing, i.e. not absolutely nothing, but nothing in comparison with so great a thing as this. It follows: These things have I spoken to you in proverbs; but the time comes when I shall no more speak to you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father.

The hour of which He speaks may be understood of the future life, when we shall see Him, as the Apostle said, face to face, and, These things have I spoken to you in proverbs, of that which the Apostle said, Now we see as in a glass darkly (1 Cor 13:12). But I will show you that the Father shall be seen through the Son; For no man knows the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal Him (Matt 11:17).

GREG. When He declares that He will show them plainly of the Father, He alludes to the manifestation about to take place of His own majesty which would troth show His own equality With the Father and the procession of the coeternal Spirit from both.

AUG. But this sense seems to be interfered with by what follows: At that day you shall ask in My name. What shall we have to ask for in a future life, when all our desires shall be satisfied; Asking implies the want of something. It remains then that we understand the words of Jesus going to make His disciples spiritual, from being carnal and natural beings.

The natural man so understands whatever he hears of God in a bodily sense, as being unable to conceive any other. Wherefore whatever Wisdom said of the incorporeal, immutable substance are proverbs to him, not that he accounts them proverbs but understands them as if they were proverbs. But when, become spiritual, he has begun to discern all things, though in this life he see but in a glass and in part, yet does he perceive, not by bodily sense, not by idea of the imagination, but by most sure intelligence of the mind, perceive and hold that God is not body, but spirit; the Son shows so plainly of the Father, that He who shows is seen to be of the same nature with Him who is shown.

Then they who ask, ask in His name, because by the sound of that name they understand nothing but the thing itself which is expressed by that name. These are able to think that our Lord Jesus Christ, in so far as He is man, intercedes with the Father for us' in so far as He is God, hears us together with the Father: which I think is His meaning when He says, And I say not to you that I will pray the Father for you. To understand this, viz. how that the Son does not ask the Father, but Father and Son together hear those who ask, is beyond the reach of any but the spiritual vision.

Catena Aurea John 16

Ascension

Crete, 15 Century

Saints of the Day — Sts. Nereus & Ahilleus, Martyrs

Also St. Pancras

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3552818/posts

Saint of the Day for today.

Information: St. Pancras

Feast Day: May 12

Born: ~289 AD, Synnada, Phrygia

Died: ~304 AD, Via Aurelia, Rome

Major Shrine: San Pancrazio, Rome

Patron of: children; invoked against cramp, false witness, headache, and perjury

Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day

St. Nereus, St. Achilleus and St. Pancras

Feast Day: May 12
Died: (around) 304

Nereus and Achilleus were Roman soldiers who worked under Emperor Trajan. In 398, Pope Siricius built a church in their honor in Rome. Pope Damasus wrote a brief tribute to the martyrs.

He explained that Nereus and Achilleus were converted to the Christian faith. They gave up their jobs in the army and left behind their weapons forever. They were true followers of Jesus even at the cost of their own lives.

Around the year 304, Nereus and Achilleus were exiled (sent away) from Rome to the island of Terracina where they were beheaded. These martyrs willingly died for their faith in Jesus.

St. Pancras, a fourteen-year-old orphan, who was not a native of Rome. He was brought there by his uncle who looked after him. He too was converted, became a follower of Jesus and was baptized.

Although just a boy, he was arrested for being a Christian. Pancras refused to give up his faith. For that, he too was killed. Pancras was beheaded but his death which he faced so bravely, won him the admiration of many. Many non-Christians converted and became Catholics.

He became a very popular martyr in the early Church. In 514, a large church was built in Rome to honor him. In 596, the famous missionary, St. Augustine of Canterbury, went to bring the Christian faith to England. He named his first church there after St. Pancras.

Reflection: With the help of the prayers of these three saints, may we understand what it means to be members of the Church of Christ.

Catholic Culture

Easter: May 12th

Optional Memorial of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, martyrs; Optional Memorial of St. Pancras, martyr

MASS READINGS

May 12, 2018 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who know the great courage of the glorious Martyrs Nereus and Achilleus in confessing you, may experience their loving intercession for us in your presence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

May your Church rejoice, O God, confident in the intercession of the Martyr Saint Pancras, and by his glorious prayers may she persevere in devotion to you and stand ever firm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Old Calendar: Saints Nereus, Achilleus, martyrs, Domitilla, virgin; St. Pancras, martyr (Hist); Bl. Imelda Lambertini, virgin and relgious (Hist)

Nereus and Achilleus were Roman soldiers in the household of Flavia Domitilla. They were instructed and converted by St. Peter. These two soldiers in turn inspired St. Domitilla to consecrate her virginity to God. Thereupon, Aurelianus, the fiancee of Domitilla, reported all three to the Roman authorities as being Christians. They were martyred out of hatred for Christianity. Pancras, a noble Phrygian youth, came to Rome at the age of fourteen, and was martyred in 275 because he refused to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods.

According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is also the feast of St. Domitilla. Historically today is the feast of Bl. Imelda Lambertini, daughter of Count Egano Lambertini of Bologna and Castora Galuzzi. She was a student at Dominican Convent of Valdi-Pietra in Bologna and had a great devotion to Saint Agnes of Rome, of whom she may have had visions. On 12 May 1333 she miraculously received her First Communion, and immediately after died in an ecstasy of love and joy.

St. Nereus, Achilleus and Domitilla
It was under the persecution of Domitian, during which John the Evangelist was condemned to be burned alive in the cauldron of boiling oil, that Flavia Domitilla was honored with banishment and death for the sake of our Redeemer, whom she had chosen for her Spouse. She was of the imperial family, being a niece of Flavius Clemens, who adorned the consular dignity by martyrdom. She was one of the Christians belonging to the court of the Emperor Domitian, who show us how rapidly the religion of the poor and humble made its way to the highest classes of Roman life. A few years previous to this, St Paul sent to the Christians of Philippi the greetings of the Christians of Nero's palace. There is still extant, not far from Rome, on the Ardeatine Way, the magnificent subterranean cemetery which Flavia Domitilla ordered to be dug on her praedium, and in which were buried the two martyrs, Nereus and Achilleus, whom the Church honors today together with the noble virgin who owes her crown to them. Nereus and Achilleus were in Domitilla's service. Hearing them one day speaking of the merit of virginity, she there and then bade farewell to all worldly pleasures, and aspired to the honor of being the Spouse of Christ. She received the veil of consecrated virgins from the hands of Pope St Clement: Nereus and Achilleus had been baptized by St Peter himself.

The bodies of these three Saints reposed, for several centuries, in the Basilica, called the Fasciola, on the Appian Way; and we have a Homily which St Gregory the Great preached in this Church on their feast. The holy Pontiff dwelt on the vanity of the earth's goods; he encouraged his audience to despise them by the example of the three martyrs whose relics lay under the very altar around which they were that day assembled. "These Saints," said he, "before whose tomb we are now standing, trampled with contempt of soul on the world and its flowers. Life was then long, health was uninterrupted, riches were abundant, parents were blessed with many children; and yet, though the world was so flourishing in itself, it had long been a withered thing in their hearts."

— Excerpted from The Liturgical Year, Abbot Gueranger O.S.B.

Symbols: Two posts and lions; fire; two swords.

Things to Do:

Even though Nereus and Achilleus died for Christ about 1800 years ago, Christians are still suffering and dying for their faith in this century. Offer a prayer for the persecuted Church and for the modern martyrs.
These two Roman soldiers threw away their "shields, their armour, and their blood-stained javelins" and gave their lives for Christ. Examine how much you are willing to sacrifice for the love of Christ and offer up a small sacrifice today.

St. Pancras
Pancratius was the descendant of a noble Phrygian family. As a youth of fourteen, he came to Rome while Diocletian and Maximian were in power (about 304). He was baptized by the Pope and given instructions in the Christian religion. Arrested for his action, he steadfastly refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods and was condemned to death. With manly courage, he bared his neck for the sword and received the martyr's crown. During the night his body was removed by the pious matron Octavilla, anointed with sweet smelling balsam and interred on the Via Aurelia.

Pancratius is the patron saint of fidelity to oaths. The basilica that Pope Symmachus erected over his remains about the year 500 later became a station church (since 1798 his relics have been lost). On the first Sunday after Easter the saint exhorted the catechumens gathered at his station church to remain loyal to their baptismal vows. The saint warns us to proceed slowly and prudently before taking an oath or vow. But once our word is given we must remain true to our pledge, true unto death itself, whether it concerns baptismal vows, ordination vows, profession vows, or marriage vows.

— Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

Symbols: Sword and stone; armour; Saracen crown under his feet.

Patron: Against false witness; against perjury; children; cramps; headaches; fidelity to oaths; treaties.

Things to Do:

Make sure that you have at least one crucifix in your home as a reminder of the great mystery of salvation.
Renew your baptismal and vocational vows today, recalling their importance and grace in your life.

Bl. Imelda Lambertini
Bl. Imelda Lambertini is a model for all in her great love for the Blessed Sacrament. Born in Bologna, she was a pious child who begged her parents to allow her to become a Dominican when she was just nine. Her parents, though saddened at having to be separated from their only child, recognized God's will for their daughter, and Imelda joined the nuns at Val di Pietra. Her status among the nuns is unclear. She received the habit and participated in the life of the nuns to some extent. At that time, children were not allowed to make their First Holy Communion until age 14, but Imelda prayed continually that she would be able to receive Our Lord without having to wait so long. When she was 11, after Mass on the vigil of the Feast of the Ascension, the Sacred Host was seen suspended amidst a brilliant light above Imelda's head. The chaplain, who was immediately summoned, gave the Host to Imelda. Afterwords, the nuns left her alone to make her thanksgiving. The prioress soon discovered, however, that Imelda, who had been in ecstasy, had died shortly after receiving her First Holy Communion, so much in love was she with Our Lord in the Eucharist. Blessed Imelda was declared Patroness of First Communicants by Pope St. Pius X.

Patron: First Communicants

Things to Do:

Read more about Bl. Imelda here
You may purchase this excellent children's book on the life of Blessed Imelda available from Amazon.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: John 16:23-28

Saints Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs (Optional Memorial)

Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. (John 16:23)

What does it mean to ask the Father in Jesus’ name when we pray? According to Jewish tradition, a person’s name was not just the word you would use to get their attention. To speak in a person’s name was to speak in his or her place, as an ambassador would speak for the president. It was as if that person were right there with you, lending his authority to your words. So when Jesus invites us to pray in his own name, he is giving us a high privilege indeed!

An ambassador can speak in his president’s name because he knows his president very well. He knows what is on the president’s heart and how his president would respond to a given situation.

This is the kind of relationship Jesus wants you to have with him. He wants you to come to know him deeply and intimately. He wants to teach you to love the things he loves, to see the world through his eyes of mercy, and to treat each other with the same tenderness he treats you.

In fact, instead of thinking in terms of an ambassador, perhaps we should think in terms of a husband and wife or a very close brother and sister. Think about how a husband and wife anticipate each other’s needs and desires. Or think about how two brothers might finish each other’s sentences.

Of course, this doesn’t happen immediately. It takes time, just as it takes time for our relationship with the Lord to deepen. We can’t expect ourselves to know everything about Jesus right away, so we certainly can’t expect to get it right every time we try to pray for someone. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

Day after day, as you offer your loved ones to the Lord in prayer, try your best to pray for them as you think Jesus would. Over time, something marvelous will happen: Jesus will draw closer to you and help you understand him more deeply. And that will affect the way you will pray tomorrow. And so on, and so on, and so on.

What a privilege it is to pray in the power of the name of Jesus!

“Jesus, I pray for my loved ones in your name today. Take us all into your heart, and shape us according to your will.”

Acts 18:23-28
Psalm 47:2-3, 8-10

Marriage = One Man and One Woman Until Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for May 12, 2018:

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. Have you thought of a way to honor your mother? It’s a great day to pray for your godmother and grandmothers too!

Regnum Christi

May 12, 2018 – Confidence in the Father’s Love

11 May 2018

Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Father John Doyle, LC

John 16:23b-28

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

Introductory Prayer: Lord, as I begin this prayer I offer you my whole self: my thoughts, desires, decisions, actions, hopes, fears, weaknesses, failures and petty successes. I open my entire being to you, aware that you know everything already. I’m certain of your mercy and of the purifying power of your penetrating, loving gaze.

Petition: Father, help me to confide in you.

1. Ask and You Shall Receive: As a child I was often bashful to the extreme when dealing with strangers. I remember once my dad asked me to leave a food package at the rectory office as a contribution to the parish food drive for the poor. I was scared stiff. Finally, after I got up the courage, I rang the doorbell, dropped the box and ran. At times we can feel the same apprehension and uncertainty before prayer. We are not sure if God will take kindly to “being disturbed” in his care for the universe to listen to our request. Ultimately, we need to remember how much God likes to be asked and to trust that, if what we are asking for is for our good or that of another, God will certainly grant it.

2. God’s Self-Revelation: Language is a vehicle of communication, and like every means of expressing ideas, it is limited. Speech, however, is really pushed to its limits when it tries to express realities about which humans have no clear conceptualizations. God’s power, his awesome majesty and his very being are far beyond our limited scope of comprehension. Jesus, as true God and true man, becomes the bridge between our human language and God, whom he knows intimately. Jesus uses the most adequate expressions possible for God –– such as Father ––, but he also reminds us that he is speaking in figures. One day he promises to tell us clearly and even introduce us to him. Is this my greatest hope? Would I be ready right now to be introduced to God the Father?

3. “The Father Himself Loves You” – Our Holy Father, Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI, reminds us of the Father’s love: “True, no one has ever seen God as he is. And yet God is not totally invisible to us; he does not remain completely inaccessible. God loved us first, says the Letter of St John, and this love of God has appeared in our midst. He has become visible in as much as he ‘has sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him’ (1 John 4:9). God has made himself visible: in Jesus we are able to see the Father (cf. John 14:9). Indeed, God is visible in a number of ways. In the love-story recounted by the Bible, he comes towards us, he seeks to win our hearts, all the way to the Last Supper, to the piercing of his heart on the cross, to his appearances after the Resurrection and to the great deeds by which, through the activity of the apostles, he guided the nascent Church along its path” (Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est [God Is Love], December 25, 2005).

Conversation with Christ: Jesus, you have revealed the immense love the Father has for all people by the ultimate self-giving of your life. Help me never to doubt your love for me. Help me to respond to your love though fidelity to your will and the practice of exquisite charity.

Resolution: I will say a decade of the rosary for missionaries who are preaching God’s love to others.

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Espa�ol

All Issues > Volume 34, Issue 3

<< Saturday, May 12, 2018 >>

Sts. Nereus & Achilleus
St. Pancras
Pentecost Novena - Day 2

Acts 18:23-28
View Readings

Psalm 47:2-3, 8-10

John 16:23-28
Similar Reflections

ASKING ANYWAY

"Until now you have not asked for anything in My name..." �John 16:24

When I take my youngest son to piano lessons, he always asks me to buy him an ice cream cone. Sometimes I have no money or time; other times I do buy him the cone. Yet even if it's been weeks without a cone, he never neglects to ask.

Jesus Himself tells us: "I give you My assurance, whatever you ask the Father, He will give you in My name" (Jn 16:23). Often Christians are disappointed when the answer to a sincere prayer request was not what was asked for. One response is to lose faith in Jesus' promise, get discouraged, and not ask Jesus for certain things. Another response is the childlike response of my son: to keep asking persistently, never losing heart (Lk 18:1).

So much is wrong with today's world. Is it because we have asked selfishly, and not rightly, that is, in Jesus name? (Jas 4:3) I wonder if "until now" we have asked for much of anything in Jesus' name (Jn 16:24). We need the Holy Spirit to be able to ask in Jesus' name (Jn 16:24) and to do so persistently. During this Pentecost novena, let us fervently beg to receive the Holy Spirit deeply, so that we may ask in Jesus' name for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Mt 6:10). Come, Holy Spirit!

Prayer: Father, we ask, in Jesus' name, for Catholics to repent deeply, receive the Holy Spirit in fullness, live the radical newness of their Baptism daily, be perfect in holiness, desire to attend Mass daily, foster and receive religious vocations, evangelize the world, change the culture of death to a civilization of love and life, serve the poor and lowly, submit in unity to the Magisterium...

Promise: "Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full." —Jn 16:24

Praise: Sts. Nereus and Achilleus cried out "Abba," threw down their arms as soldiers, and gave their lives over to Christ.